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Monday this week paid a bill at Leroy Merlin of over 1000 euros by cheque - that was after my CA bank card was refused twice!! Mind you, we do have their card which gives us 15% off on the promotion days. No ID or anything was asked for.

Our canton of 13 communities has one notaire - she is inundated. Her office has paper everywhere, cannot imagine her workload. Don't think this is abnormal either.

A telling indication of his level of intelligence in that he thought he could get away with posting such a blatant act of illegality and no one notice.

Have had two problems with my SFR accounts recently. One was allegedly "highjacked" and I had to use the chat line to get it sorted. The second account last week would not forward emails to my Gmail account until I changed the password. Both done via my client account on their site.

Thank you Sweet for a steadying hand on the tiller to counterbalance my knee jerk comment. My parents often snorted in front of us children, but in those days it was purely derision...

"After all, what parent would not want to protect their children?" How about those who smoke in the house or car with children, feed them enough food to make them obese (the new normal in the UK), think its every one's fault but their own their children are badly behaved etc etc!!

If you are doing the BAC (S) like our two sons, it might be worth comparing the range of subjects you have done. We have no feel for what you do for 3 specific A levels, but our youngest who is doing his mocks at the moment for the BAC (S) is doing Spanish, International section History and Geography in English, English, Philosophy, Physics/Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Extra higher level Physics, Sport (exams in three subjects, Ping Pong, Running and Rock Climbing). He has already taken the BAC section in French (written and oral) and History/Geography and had to give a 20 min presentation on a Science subject in front of a jury. In the stone age when I did my 3 A levels (Physics, Geography and Chemistry), that was it. The French system seems to produce a better rounded student with a wider grasp of subjects. Our eldest, who also did BAC (S) is at 19 now beging to appreciate even philosophy. IMO you can argue you are taking extra value to your next level of study than just an A level student.

Norman, just seen your post. Things have not changed. Three years ago at our eldest's Lycée, the new Philosophy teacher arrived. Only after he had made indecent written proposals to a 17 year old female student in the class and she complained did they look into his qualifications. He had none, had no record of teaching and had fled the Lycée after 3 months of being there. This is a large establishment with an effective of 1500.

Thanks for the replies, so its not just us! Being a Yorkshire man married to a Scot , the freebie element was the first thought, but we were trying to be charitable!! Neither family mentioned anything about a financial contribution. I too looked up "host families" and was surprised by the cost - I doubt either family had checked this. What worried us most was the responsibility of asking any family member or friend (I doubt they would remain so after a 2 month "visit") to look after a young girl. We are going to take the French approach and just ignore it till its raised again.

We are parents with two teenage boys, so our parenting skill with reference to girls is limited. However, two separate French families have contacted us in the past couple of weeks expecting us to put their 16/17 year old daughters in contact with "friends" in the UK so that one can go and stay with them for 1 or 2 months during the holidays and the other for her daughter and friend (who she has never met) to go for a couple of weeks. Of these three girls, one we know, the other two we have never met either. We were a bit stunned by the requests as, to our minds, the pitfalls are many. My question is, are we over thinking this or do these parents really think they can send three female "minors" with limited language skills off to big cities in the UK to stay with people they don't know because they are totally confident in our choice of friends/family or are they just naive?

We got a decree to say as we are less than 1000 people, ID was not required. The Gendarmes did turn up to do a control and asked to come in. As I was nearest the door I said they could, provided they had a photo ID - they were armed and stayed outside in the rain! The mix and match of the two lists was not understood by most of the voters, the only two people who asked for an explanation were two English ladies. One of my fellow officials laughed at them taking so long in the booth. I told him they were making sure they crossed his name off the list! Back tonight to do the count...

As an outgoing member of the Conseil (I am not standing again), I am really looking forward to my 8am to 1pm stints at the election. Not forgetting the compulsory break at 0930 for a "collation" which for us is bread, rillettes of duck and a bottle of red to wash it down!!

We have been with our CA bank where we live in France for over 20 years, they still ask for proof of ID for their records, money laundering is the reason they give. We also have to take in a copy of our French tax form each year for them to verify we are below the threshold for the LEP which is the higher rate platform limited savings account. As we do all our stuff on line I was interested to see how they accepted our own printed off copy of a very restricted Impôt form. Neither they nor the CPAM had seen it before but they have to accept it. According to the form, the government authorities have a system to allow them to verify the info. It would not take a computer genius to change the amounts on the form! They do scan the info and keep it on a Bank data base. That is why they like the originals, they just give them back to you. We are legally French, so it applies to all. Am also a Brit and a UK tax payer, but neither of our UK banks (clients with them for over 30 years) will allow us to open up accounts for our children, despite having all the ID in the world to prove who they are. They provide no hoops at all to jump through!

For the water; Abonnement 37.88 Water m3 1.98 Assainissement: Redevance per year 45 Redevance m3 1.90 Modernisation of network per m3 .3 Total (as per the first post all included) 4.48€ M3 We (the council) fixed the price for the redevance for those connected to the sewer/rainwater system (it cost us 300,000 for 80 houses!) so even those with wells help pay for the update. We also fix the price of the water which helps pay for the update, predicated on 120 m3 per house. As I predicted, the usage dropped when people found out how much extra they had to pay, so we have to keep putting up the price of the water per M3 to cover the repayments. Those outside the village only pay for the water they use, at a slightly lower cost. We get two bills one from the Syndic d'eau for the water, the other from the Mayor's office for the treatement. Becareful when making comparisons between the two on useage. There can be a years delay ie Assinissement is based on last years useage.

I was pleased to have a French registered bike when I toured in Spain last year, given the Gibraltar situation!

Nice to read I am not the only one using earplugs.

It also depends where you are with relation to the distribution point. We tried to up the supply for a friend who wanted an all electric kitchen. To do what she wanted, we were informed that EDF/Syndic would have to upgrade all the lines from the village to her house as they were already at their maximum carrying ability. Needless to say they would not pay for this! In the end, we took out the electric heaters to compensate.

The first one I changed I naively thought it would be copper like the ones in the UK. I cut it in half to make a pond feature, the rust marked the courtyard for months. I think they are galvanised steel on the inside. Some have plastic riser pipes which become brittle after a short time, snap and then you only get half a tank of hot water before the cold water rises and covers the broken riser (I cut another defective one up to find out why it had stopped working after only 18 mths).

You could check that the inlet valve to the hot water tank is fully open and operates correctly. Also, if fitted, the isolating valve for the water supply to the tank. Some people fit a pressure reducing valve on the inlet side of the system (cold water) in areas where the pressure is too high for the tank. This could be defective after a long period of unuse. Does the safely release valve operate correctly?

Well at least in our village (where I am on the council) we have three commerces - Cafe Bar, Hairdresser and Baker. The Hairdresser bought the old post office and set up shop (in her late 20s), the Cafe bar completely refurbished and a new owner and the Baker has just sold on his business to a young couple from Paris! We have had to open an new class in the school as there are so many children, and perhaps another one next year. Our population has actually increased, so its not all bad.

A french friends brother went to live in the UK and took his French car with him. He was pulled over in London by the police for a check and he was given a PV and told to get his car registered in the UK. She was appalled that he had to get the headlights and the speedo changed to get it registered.

As you said, I don't think its possible to get a copy, but try the Academy site for your region, all don't seem to be the same. Other than that, it could be that the historic Brevet notes are kept in the College your daughter attended. You could visit them with her INE and ask them to give you a letter with her Maths Bevet note on it. The French education system can be very inflexible (we know only too well), but a personal approach can work wonders. Failing that, at the end of Lycee she will be given her "Dossier" (livret scolaire) which contains all the bulletins from when she started college until the end of Lycee. In there is the last bulletin (3eme trimestre 3eme) at College which will give her class mark for maths. If you explain to the UK uni the difficulties and provide them with the last "term report" (providing the maths note is good) that might help too.

Don't know the full facts of your case, but if you have been controlled by the SPANC and you have a "Noir" rating, you need to be talking to your Syndic d'eau to determine what the system if for subventions. Ours is giving up to 60% if you get signed up.

Try this site http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/07027.html Under the calender section, the historical almananc will give you a day by day readout of actual weather at Caen for the period you are looking for. Other cities in France may suit your needs more accurately. The minimum temperature we have experienced is -4 (one night only). It has rained nearly every day!

Thanks NormanH, this is good news (I think). There is no mention of costs for the owner of the property if he/she signs into this scheme, though as I read it, they could be penalised if they are currently charging more then the agreed average? (ie no entrance to the scheme) It will be very good if its free and they do guarantee the rent for 18 months (the time it would take to get someone out of the rented accommodation!) I presume that the owner will have to take the necessary legal action to evict during this period? One hour with the avocat cost us 300 Euros and that was 3 years ago.